The Confident Hope of a Miracle

Posted on 20 March 2018 by Neil Hanson

The story of the Spanish Armada is one of the great epics, with a cast of characters as rich and varied as any in history and results that shaped Europe for centuries to come Neil Hanson acclaimed author of The Great Fire of London traces the origins of the conflict from the Old World to the New, delineating the Armada campaign in rousing prose He illuminates the lives of kings and popes, spymasters and assassins, military commanders and common sailors, and the ordinary men and women caught up in this great event when the fate of nations hung in the balance The Confident Hope of a Miracle is authentic and original history written with the pace and drama of a novel. Best Read [ The Confident Hope of a Miracle ] author [ Neil Hanson ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Beautifully written and researched Can push you into detail and almost trivia but the author always pulls you back and rivets you with novel like drama You ll never think of the Spanish Armada the same way againI had an English history professor in college who refused to teach what he called drum and trumpet history Which leaves what Enclosure Drainage of the fens Repeal of the Corn Laws C mon ProfEngland is NOTHING BUT drum and trumpets And nobody does a better job of it that Hanson in this book.Mind you, he takes a rather dim view of Elizabeth I from time to time Vain, vacillating and penny pinching, she very nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory But her salty Sea Dogs save the I had an English history professor in college who refused to teach what he called drum and trumpet history Which leaves what Enclosure Drainage of the fens Repeal of th...Queen Elizabeth I is a fucking greedy bitch whose parsimony caused the deaths of 8000 English sailors who, having successfully repelled the Spanish, were not remunerated for their skilled and heroic efforts and as a result died from starvation or disease or being executed for having no special dispensation to beg I mean jesus fucking christ Nothing disgusts meNothing in all of history upsets meHolocaust don t care Khmer Rouge don t care Even Phillip II, the arthritic, reclu Queen Elizabeth I is a fucking greedy bitch whose parsimony caused the deaths of 8000 English sailors who, having successfully repelled the Spanish, were not remunerated for their skilled and heroic efforts a...The Spanish Armada is one of those moments in English history that s becomemyth than history over the years everyone knows the stories about Drake playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe or how the English Fleet was so outnumbered or the storms scattering the fleet But I realised that I really didn t actually know very much about it at all, so this book was utterly fascinating to me It s very well written and manages to make the labyrinthian and Machiavellian machinations of both Spain and Engla The Spanish Armada is one of those moments in English history that s becomemyth than history over the years everyone knows the stories about Drake playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe or how the English Fleet was so outnumbered or the storms scattering the fleet But I realised that I really didn t actually know very much about it at all, so this book was utter...Three vs four was a tough choice for me I think it comes down to taste This books is a narrative history of the Armada, and I would have preferred an analytical one It is especially troubling when the author makes interesting revisionist clai...Fascinating.Elizabeth I comes off as a penny pinching miser, and Philip II of Spain as a religiously obsessed bureaucrat.A great deal of time is spent on the actual ships, however, with the common men, sailors and soldiers, of the two fleets, and is quite sympathetic to them and their travails.Although Hanson doesn t say much new in Confident Hope, he gives the story of the English defeat of the Spanish Armada a modern day spin Without King Philip II of Spain s desire to bring heretical parts of Europe back into the Roman Catholic fold, there would have been no devastating battles Critics applaud Hanson s evenhanded approach to the story, meticulous research, and good storytelling skills They also agree that his thrilling reconstruction of the 10 day battle off England s southern c Although Hanson doesn t say much new in Confident Hope, he gives the story of the English defeat of the Spanish Armada a modern day spin Without King Philip II of Spain s desire to bring heretical parts of Europe back into the Roman Catholic fol...Hanson doesn t add a great dealto the corpus of knowledge about the Spanish Armada story summer of 1588 but he does provide the most complete collection of information I ve seen outside the academic market He also has done a great deal to humanize the narrative, spending time with the problems facing decisionmakers, the hardships endured by sailors, and the challenges confr...This is one of my favorite history texts With such unbelievably bad preparation and leadership, with a such utter lack of suitable equipment, with such unbelievably horrible treatment of their soldiers and sailors, the only reason the English managed to actually win was because the Spanish were even worse Imagine having to sleep on a ship full of malnutrition and sickness with no hammock Imagine being forced to rappel down the outside of your ship in combat in order to reload a cannon Imagin This is one of my favorite history texts With such unbelievably bad preparation and leadership, with a such utter lack of suitable equipment, with such unbelievably horrible treatment of their soldiers and sailors, the only reason the English managed to actually win was because the Spanish were even worse Imagine having to sleep on a ship full of malnutrition and sickne...Hanson does an excellent job laying out the back story of the reason for the Spanish assault, provides excellent sketches of the major players, and yet still has time for a rip roaring naval battle For a British author t...

English
20 March 2018

Neil Hanson